An A train went the wrong way through downtown Manhattan earlier this month because of an apparent miscommunication with the train operator, MTA officials say.
The operator of a downtown A train at Canal Street was supposed to perform a simple track switch on August 11, but ended up going the wrong way.
There had been signal problems further downtown that day, and the train operator was told to back up and switch to the other track, according to the MTA. Instead, she kept going past Spring Street to the station at West Fourth Street.
The train crew told supervisors they never heard the radio calls for the operator to stop and that thankfully, she saw the headlights of the southbound train before it was too late.
The MTA said a wrong-way train is "extremely uncommon," but many riders were alarmed to hear of the incident.
"That's very scary," said one man.
"The price keeps going up, and we have to have the train system overhauled," said Janet Wolfman of Greenwich Village.
Local
Others shrugged it off as a New York experience that fortunately did not get anyone hurt.
"I think I'm used to almost anything in this city," said another man. "I'm not surprised."
